A Reason to Fight
Background Written by Arch Arch3r, A Reason to Fight was released on September 1 2016 as an entry for the Claymore Fanfiction Day. With about 600 words this fiction can be categorized as a ficlet. It also contains light angst and graphic depictions of violence. A Reason to Fight The woman stood there amidst a pool of blood, torn bodies marking her path. Indifferent she stood, counting the distorted corpses of her victims. Blood dripped from her sword's tip, mixing itself with the dust. “…4…5…6. Huh, one is missing.” Despite the twisted display her voice sounded calm, almost playful. The girl grew aware of the hands clutching her meager shoulders. Its hands. Fast and shallow breaths against her neck told a tale of fear. Searchingly, the woman’s eyes wandered over the terrified townspeople. It felt like her presence had expanded, an overwhelming aura, filling even the darkest corners of this god forsaken town; spilling over the city walls, engulfing the girl’s entire being and the whole world itself. Its trembling hands were now holding her shoulders so tightly she thought they were being crushed. She didn’t even flinch. To her it was nothing more than a dull ache somewhere on the outskirts of her consciousness. Pain is shallow, a thought flickered. “What if I don’t find it?” the woman continued “What indeed...” She muttered, as her eyes locked onto the girl’s. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move. Her whole world froze, pierced by those cold silver eyes, even her thoughts stood still. Captivated, the girl was lost in the depths of something she wasn’t able to comprehend, let alone form into words. Her rigor wore off the instant the woman’s stance shifted from indifferent to hostile. She disappeared from her sight in a single, violent blur of steel and blood. The girl drew one careful breath. A second. Nothing happened. “Fool.” The girl’s heart skipped a beat. Almost unbearably calm the woman’s menacing voice continued, her words resonating in the girl’s tender chest “Did you think you could use the girl as a shield?” One last time she grew aware of its oppressive grip, its presence behind her, its strained breath against the back of her neck, then its fingers, deprived of all strength, slipped off her shoulders. The backside of her frail body suddenly felt strangely warm, as if she was floating on the surface of a hot spring, she closed her eyes. Her inner eyes, which she had shut so long ago to protect herself from the cruelty of this world, were now carefully opening their lids, blinking at the sight of the faint light, lost in the darkness. She was brought back to her senses by the horrified screams of several women. It took her a moment to realize, that the warmth she had felt was not clean water. Thick blood was running down her skin, dripping off her fingertips and forming a little pool. She slowly turned around and saw…it lying dead to her feet, cleanly cleft in half. A strange satisfaction took hold of her and for the first time for what felt like ages the air she inhaled tasted like air, the source of life instead of the poison she had grown accustomed to. And deep breaths she drew. The flicker of happiness that had sparked for an instant was trampled dead by her demons. Her breathing accelerated, grew more desperate and finally turned into gasping. She was locked inside her head, unable to perceive her surroundings, with nothing but shreds and pieces of a pitch-black past. Her head spun. Pain. So much pain. Hands clenched to fists the girl tried to force aside the memories with all her might, back into the abyss they had arisen from. Still, the darkness was stronger, sucked her in, seized her heart with its claws. No more. More. No more. More. No more! More! She was at the brink of falling apart. The voices threatened to break her, drive her completely insane, take even the last remnants of…anything from her. For one moment her delirious mind allowed her eyes to focus. What she saw would be engraved into her mind for all days to come. Like a mirror the deep, silver eyes reflected all her pain, all her loneliness, all her fragility, all she had endured. She didn’t see the warrior that took lives like they didn’t matter, not the inhuman being everyone called “silver eyed witch”. In that moment, all she saw was a woman. Author's comments Category:A Reason to Fight Category:Fictions Category:Fanfictions Category:Content